Adams discusses adding 'top-pair talent' in Byram, recaps trade deadline

Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams met with the media to discuss the four trades the team made leading up to the NHL trade deadline, which took effect Friday at 3 p.m.

The Sabres made a splash Wednesday by acquiring defenseman Bowen Byram from Colorado in exchange for forward Casey Mittelstadt. They opened deadline day by trading two veterans on expiring contracts, receiving defenseman Calle Sjalin and a conditional seventh-round draft pick from Florida for captain Kyle Okposo and a fourth-round pick from Philadelphia for defenseman Erik Johnson.

Buffalo rounded out the day by acquiring a seventh-round pick in 2025 in exchange for goaltender Devin Cooley, who has spent the season playing in Rochester.

The decision to part with Okposo and Johnson, Adams said, was reflective of the team’s position in the standings, currently nine points out of a playoff spot with 18 games remaining. The deal to acquire Byram was made with the goal of improving the roster both in the present and the long-term.

“I'll say it and I'm sure everybody else would say we're disappointed with where we are,” Adams said. “We need to be better. And the Bo Byram decision, making a big trade like that was to upgrade our team and to make our team better now and into the future, and that's what we're going to work towards in the summer.”

Adams said he had been in the market to add a top-four defenseman for multiple years. The opportunity to add Byram – the fourth-overall pick in 2019 and a Stanley Cup champion already at 22 years old – began to materialize in conversations with the Avalanche over recent weeks.

Sabres associate general manager Jason Karmanos and director of pro scouting Jeremiah Crowe attended Avalanche games in the meantime and, together with Adams, saw Byram as a poised, puck-moving defenseman with untapped offensive upside. Trade talks intensified earlier in the days leading up to the deal.

“It’s really, really tough in this league to find a top-pair kind of talent that Bo Byram is at that age,” Adams said. “You generally have to draft him.”

Byram put his talent on display in his Sabres debut Wednesday night in Nashville. He carried the puck into the left faceoff circle and buried a wrist shot to the short side to put the Sabres on the board during the first period, then delivered a pass through traffic to set up Owen Power’s goal from the slot in the third. He became the third defenseman acquired in a trade in Sabres history to have multiple points in his debut, joining John Van Boxmeer and Lee Fogolin.

“I think everyone knew coming in he’s an elite talent,” Power said afterward. “I thought he looked really good out there. He’s going up and down the ice making plays and I thought had a real solid game.”

In Byram, the Sabres also added a player who had reason to be excited given his relationships in Buffalo and who fits the age profile of what had become a young but experienced roster. Byram is close friends with Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs, both of whom knew Byram growing up and played alongside him at the 2021 IIHF World Championship for Canada – a team that also included Jack Quinn and Devon Levi.

That Byram met the team in Nashville at all was a testament to his enthusiasm. He was dealing with an illness the morning of the trade and, as a result, was expected to meet the Sabres in Buffalo. Hours passed, and he decided to change plans to get in the lineup as quickly as possible.

His game against the Predators was a promising start to what the team hopes is a long tenure in Buffalo.  

“In this situation we felt like, to get this player, caliber of talent, we can have with us for a long time hopefully was the right move,” Adams said.

Here’s more from Adams’ press conference to end deadline day.

1. The flip side of the Byram deal was the difficult decision to part with Mittelstadt, a popular presence in the Sabres’ dressing room who had been with the organization since he was drafted in 2017. Mittelstadt had grown in that time from a healthy scratch at the time Don Granato took over as interim head coach in 2021 to the team’s leading scorer at the time of the trade.

“I think it’s important for me publicly to acknowledge what a great player and person Casey Mittelstadt is,” Adams said. “Just an incredible amount of respect for Casey. … He’s loved in that locker room. He’s a leader. It was just a very, very difficult trade to make.”

Adams reiterated that he did not shop Mittelstadt, who will be a restricted free agent after this season.

“He was a sought-after player for obvious reasons,” Adams said. “… So, I was getting calls and what I made very clear to the league is I have to be willing to listen and think about every possible scenario that I think makes sense for our team now and into the future.”

2. As with Mittelstadt, the departure of Okposo meant the loss of a long-tenured player whose impact has been felt beyond the ice. Okposo played eight seasons with the Sabres, including the last two as captain, and made Buffalo his full-time home.

The trade to Florida will enable the 35-year-old with a chance for the Stanley Cup.

“I believe you owe people the respect to have an honest conversation and understand exactly how they feel and they need to understand exactly the job that I have and where I’m at,” Adams said. “I’ll keep the conversation private, but he made it very clear to me what he was hoping to do and where he was hoping to go at the deadline and fortunately, we were able to make it happen.

“I wish him the best. I know he’ll be missed, but I think he’s got an amazing opportunity in front of him. And I’m disappointed that I’m talking about this right now because this isn’t where any of us wanted to be in terms of the standings at this time of year. Certainly, when he re-signed this summer, not what we were talking about, but that’s where we are and that’s part of how this game goes sometimes.”

3. The Sabres held onto two pending unrestricted free agents in forwards Zemgus Girgensons and Victor Olofsson. Girgensons is the longest-tenured Sabres player and has long been considered one of the primary leaders in the dressing room alongside Okposo.

“I did have conversations with teams and it just had to make sense for us and Zemgus,” Adams said. “Where we got to today, there wasn’t the right deal to make, and I’m really glad we’re keeping him because there’s something special about him. I think it’s important here down the stretch too that he’s in this locker room.”

Olofsson has been limited to 37 games this season but has been in the lineup for both contests since the departure of Mittelstadt. Adams said he expects the 28-year-old to receive more playing time down the stretch.

“Vic is, he’s about as good as it gets when it comes to being a pro,” Adams said. “It’s really tough. I’ve been really hoping I was going to be able to move him today. I’ve been working on it. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do anything. But in saying that, I think with moving guys out, he has an opportunity to play right now, and I think that’s what’s most important to him, getting in, showing that he can be the NHL player that he’s been before.”